Beatport reveals its 100 best-selling tracks of 2018

As one of the leading music outlets within the electronic music industry, Beatport holds a great deal of influence over the scene. From promoting exclusive releases to ranking tracks on its elusive top 100 chart, the platform has become an integral aspect of the industry, providing data surrounding global trends and preferences. Unlike Spotify or Apple Music, Beatport is the one music outlet that is specifically centered around distributing electronic music alone. This exclusivity has given it a great deal of legitimacy for fans and artists of the genre. Producers regularly campaign to try and climb to the top of the Beatport chart and hitting the number one spot if an incredibly powerful achievement for an artist’s brand. To celebrate the New Year, Beatport has revealed its top releases of 2018, giving insight into the trends that took hold during the year. This is a great source of information for artists as it gives insight into which tracks performed the best. This gives budding producers the chance to try and replicate this success in 2019 and aim for the top of the chart.

Beatport is one of the few outlets that is largely dominated by underground music. Unlike more mainstream platforms like Spotify or Apple Music, Beatport is completely balanced between underground and mainstream and regularly sees underground artists take the top spot on the chart. For this reason, the stats surrounding the best releases of the year are even more interesting, as they provide insight into the underground and the mainstream. In fact, Beatport is one of the very best platforms for underground talent to shine.

An unsurprising winner, Fisher’s ‘Losing It’ took the number one spot in the Beatport chart during 2018. This could be due to the fact that Beatport was given the exclusive rights for the extended mix of the track. This result highlights the benefits of distributing a piece of music exclusively through Beatport. This is a tactical move that generally generates more downloads through the platform than you would usually receive. While many would argue that it was ‘Losing It’s popularity that provided this result, there is a great deal of strategical value in the fact that Fisher allowed Beatport to be the sole distributor of the extended mix.

Other tracks that also reached the top of the chart will come as no surprise for fans and producers. Camelphat’s remix of Fatboy Slim’s anthem ‘Right Here, Right Now’ also performed well in the 1001Tracklist chart, in the Beatport chart, it reaches second place. This is definitely not a surprising result as it featured in copious live sets throughout 2018. Andrew Meller’s modern take on ‘Born Slippy’ takes third position. He reworked the classic into a 2018 house anthem, completely adapting the original. Another track that is an unsurprising feature in the top chart is ‘Your Mind’ by Adam Beyer and Bart Skills. This track was undoubtedly one of the most successful tracks of last year, proving the power of vocal techno hits in the current climate.

Moving down to the lower half of the chart, there is surprising underground domination. Many of the tracks featured aren’t ones which featured often during mainstage festivals sets and are probably not widely known by the mainstream audience. ‘Pick Up’ by DJ Koze is the highest charting disco track, illustrating that the genre may be about to make a stronger impact in 2019. Further on, ‘Take It’ by Dom Dolla also makes the top chart. This track achieved a great deal of popularity during the second half of 2018, becoming one of the most viral hits of the period. It undoubtedly captured attention through its unique sound, providing listeners with something they’d never heard before.

By looking at the top releases on Beatport for 2018, we can learn a lot about the shape of electronic music last year, and the way the trends are set to adapt into 2019. 2018 definitely illustrated the rise in vocal techno and tech house. Techno has been on the rise over the last few years, but it is the more vocal techno hits that have broken into the mainstream and finally made the genre relatable for the masses. In previous years we’ve seen genres like future bass develop to include vocals, producing hits that soon found themselves in the mainstream chart. A great example of this is Martin Garrix’s ‘In The Name of Love’. With Cola having taken the tech house genre into the commercial charts, Camelphat are slowly becoming the poster boys for the tech house genre, introducing it to the global commercial market. Having followed up with ‘Panic Room’ and ‘Breathe’, it’s only a matter of time before the pair takes the genre fully into the mainstream.

Fisher’s success on Beatport also serves as yet another reminder that he will continue to break the boundaries of tech house in order to create more viral hits. With a catalogue of impressive releases already behind him, it seems that ‘Losing It’ is just the beginning Aussie superstar, who will undoubtedly dominate the charts again this year with further releases.

Looking at which tracks dominated 2018 is an incredibly valuable exercise for artists. It provides a great deal of insight into what it takes to create a winning hit and gives insight into which trends may take over in 2019. With artists such as David Guetta, Hardwell and Oliver Heldens all clearly being influenced by the tech house genre, it looks like 2019 will provide even more tech house commercial crossover hits.

View the full list here.